What Affects Fertility

How Your Diet (and Your Partner's!) Can Impact Your Fertility

It turns out you're not the only one who needs to make health a priority pre-baby.

How Your Diet (and Your Partner's!) Can Impact Your FertilityIt turns out you're not the only one who needs to make health a priority pre-baby.

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Considering having a baby anytime soon? You might want to make sure your cholesterol levels are in check—and your partner's levels. High free cholesterol levels in both men and women can impact the amount of time it takes a couple to get pregnant, according to a new study in the Journal of Endocrinology and Metabolism.

Researchers looked at 501 couples from another longitudinal study who were actively trying to get pregnant and weren't being treated for infertility. The researchers took blood samples to measure for free cholesterol (this is your total cholesterol, which doesn't distinguish between HDL and LDL cholesterol like they do at the doctor's office. However, the researchers note that high free cholesterol levels likely predict an unfavorable HDL to LDL ratio). Then they followed the couples for a year, or until they got pregnant.

High cholesterol in women was associated with a longer time trying to get pregnant. But here's the real shocker: Couples who both had high cholesterol levels had the hardest time getting pregnant, when compared to couples who had cholesterol levels in the normal range. These results remained even after adjusting for other variables like age and BMI. It's not just your cholesterol that matters—your guy's health is crucial, too.